Hriday Hazarika — Junior World Cup gold medalist in Suhl (GER) a couple of months ago — climbed atop the World Championship podium in Changwon (KOR), nailing a decisive 10.3 in a shoot-off against his Iranian rival, Amir Mohammad Nekounam.

It took an additional shoot-off to deliver the 10m Air Rifle Men Junior title at the ISSF World Championship in Changwon (KOR), as India’s 16-year-old Hriday Hazarika and Islamic Republic of Iran’s Amir Mohammad Nekounam (20) battled fiercely for the top position and finished tied at 250.1 points after shot number 24.

There, with the gold medal on the line, the Indian shooter — gold medalist at this year’s Junior World Cup in Suhl (GER) — fired a great 10.3, barley prevailing over Nekounam’s 10.2 and securing the brightest medal.

It’s the second junior world title for India in Changwon: Hazarika’s teammate Chaudhary Saurabh, in fact, won yesterday’s junior final in the 10 Air Pistol Men event.

The podium was completed by Grigorii Shamakov (17) of the Russian Federation — bronze medalist at this year’s European Championship in Gyor (HUN) — who added another 3rd place to his collection and scored 228.6 points.

The 4th place was taken by Marco Suppini (19) of Italy with 207.2 points. It’s the second medal of the competition for the Italian shooter, gold medalist in the 10m Air Rifle Mixed Team Junior event alongside his teammate Sofia Benetti.

Suppini was followed by 17-year-old Amirsiyavash Zolfagharian of the Islamic Republic of Iran — 19th at the 2017 ISSF Junior World Championship in Suhl (GER) — who placed 5th with 184.5 points; and by two first-time participant of the People’s Republic of China: Wang Yuefeng (20) of the People’s Republic of China concluded with 163.1 points and placed 6th, while Tian Xiangyu (19) of the People’s Republic of China took 7th position with 142.8.

The second Russian shooter in the final — 20-year-old Ilia Marsov, who qualified for the match with the highest score of 628.9 points — was the first athlete eliminated from the match and took 8th place with 121.0 points.

By setting a new Junior World Record, the People’s Republic of China took the team gold medal with 1876.2 points. The Islamic Republic of Iran followed in 2nd place with 1874.3 points, while the Russian Federation won bronze with 1873.7.

The ISSF World Championship in Changwon (KOR) will continue tomorrow with four more finals: the 50m Rifle 3 Positions Women, scheduled at 12:15 pm (UTC+9:00), the Trap Mixed Team Junior, taking place at 2:00 pm, the 25m Pistol Women, taking place at 3:30 pm, and the 25m Pistol Women Junior, which will close the competition day at 4:45 pm.